Eva Destruction

My silliest GM story: My husband was on a villain. He had a problem with a mission. The GM he got was a "blaster"....who did not have villain tells enabled. I had to log in a hero and inform the GM that my husband was TRYING to answer him, but couldn't.

On the other hand, most of my experiences with prompt, helpful GMs who quickly figured out the problem and fixed it date back to before i7...

[ QUOTE ]
mine is kind of over the top. rularru breaks free into our dimension, all 6 nasty versions of him. leviathan breaks free and starts a massive tidal assault. Mot the sleeper awakens from the moth graveyard and is not particularly thrilled, and whatever happened to merluna finally comes back and brings help for the surface dwellers against the leviathan..and then shiva shows up in its full form to bring a full assault.


[/ QUOTE ]
There's only one thing wrong with that scenario: no giant robots. So while all that's going on:

Burkholder finally finishes his Mega Mech. Both the Council and the 5th get their hands on the plans and unleash rival armies of giant robots on Paragon City. And Malta gets a bunch of Kronos Titans from...somewhere.

[ QUOTE ]

I mean, here we have what is basically one person (Miss Liberty) who has sent her private army into a sovereign nation. They have set up bases and are constantly attacking citizens and the official military of that country.


[/ QUOTE ]

Two people. Don't forget Wyvern.

If you love your characters so much that you feel they need a multi-arc story about them, you love them too much to write a good story involving them.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So, in other words you're suggesting people change their stories to fit the unfounded prejudices of a portion of the playerbase,

[/ QUOTE ]

Really??!! Wow, I'm glad you're here to tell me what I'm saying by reading between the lines. I had no idea I meant anything of the sort. I'm a real [censored] telling people they have to change their arcs. I better go back and edit between the lines so I stop saying such things.

Here I thought I was just refuting the contention that some situations require heavy lampshading to avoid a defeat-all. Maybe. on the other hand, there could be an actual discussion on the subject if people were not trying to put their own unfounded prejudices into other people's posts. You and Xyzyx gave scenarios that you seemed to think should be defeat-alls in response to my statements so I gave one of many potential reasons they did not have to be in rebuttal. That's discussion, not "do it my way!....and KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Except if you're writing an arc about a biological zombie infestation, making it technological or magical would be changing the story. If the story is about a bunch of lunatics attacking an orphanage, and you give the lunatics leaders, you change the nature of the villain group, and therefore potentially the story.

[ QUOTE ]

Nobody saw me because if I didn't see him, he didn't see me. Since if he had seen me he would have attacked me as I was not stealthed. I have to assume he simply heard the sounds of his companions bones breaking and chose to remain in hiding, quaking in fear.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he heard you, he's a witness.

If you don't feel these scenarios justify defeat alls, just don't play arcs with defeat alls. Because frankly, all these "I hate defeat alls, nobody should ever use them" posts are as much telling people how and what to write as a post saying "I hate Malta, nobody should do arcs about them."

[ QUOTE ]

It's not hard to come up with alternatives to defeat-alls in any situation. You write the story, it does not write you. The lunatics invading the orphanage, for example, sure, send the hero into the mission by telling him he must rid the orphanage of all the lunatics. Once inside, he discovers they're after something, or they're a distraction for someone else. Give the hero some goals to complete in the mission and when he's done have the clue state that a PPD swat team arrives on scene and mops up.

Alternately, make a few "boss" lunatics that must be defeated. Once they're gone, the PPD swat team can handle what's left. Then you don't have to use a small map and the player can take out as many of the lunatics as he wants.

A single zombified hero getting loose and infecting the rest of the population only happens if you write it that way. It makes just as much sense for there to be some magical artifact, technological device, or what have you that ends the zombie threat once you destroy it.


[/ QUOTE ]
So, in other words you're suggesting people change their stories to fit the unfounded prejudices of a portion of the playerbase, rather than using the tools available to tell the stories they want to tell? Right. I'll get right on that. Tell you what, I'll even change the Malta plot in my one arc to another Nemesis plot, just because so many people hate fighting Malta...

Or, maybe...no.

[ QUOTE ]

As for the "kill all witnesses".....I did an arc where that was the cover, and the fact is no one who I did not engage in combat saw me anyway, so why do I need to kill Joe Minion who was hiding behind the third floor pillar the whole time and never saw me?

[/ QUOTE ]

If a defeat all has three floors, you're doing it wrong. The fact that nobody you didn't engage didn't see you is a meta-game excuse...assuming of course that you stealthed with actual stealth, and not scrapper/tanker/brute "stealth."

Bumping this thread by adding some more:

Ctrl + Alt + Reset: You're stuck in a time loop and have to find your way out. You're stuck in a time loop and...very nice execution of the concept.

Forget the Rose, Send me the Thorns: A fairly short, very humorous high-level arc.

Feedback is region-based, yes Don't know if it's WAI or if they just can't find a way to let you send feedback across the pond.

[ QUOTE ]
Is the Bolero being removed?

Characters with it get to keep it, but we won't be able to make new costumes with it?

Can someone clarify, please?

[/ QUOTE ]

The option to use the bolero with wings or capes snuck in when the magic pack was released. That option was removed shortly afterwards. People who still have costumes with a bolero and wings or a cape can keep the costumes, but when they edit them they won't be able to use the invalid combination anymore.

The bolero isn't going anywhere, you can still use it, just not with wings or a cape, just like the trenchcoat it's based on.

The feedback from US players was in the form of a global tell to @damz. So the US account @damz received the tell. If your two accounts had had different globals, it wouldn't have happened.

[ QUOTE ]
MMOs are about balance and even if you take farming out of the equation, AE is not balanced.

-Regular missions have contacts you have to earn/find, then continually travel to until you get their cell. AE puts the contact right next to you.

-Regular missions have doors that can be on the other end of the zone or even in another zone entirely. AE always has the door right next to you.

-If you want to go to the hospital in a regular mission it could put you hundreds of yards away from the mission door, the AE hospital always puts you right next to the mission door.

-Random missions give you random salvage and recipe drops. AE tickets allow you to more selectively choose your drops.

-If you're having to buy enhancements with influence you will have to find a vendor selling your Origin, then you'll have to wade through the sometimes oddly named inventory list (curse you Magic Origin). If you use AE tickets you travel a few feet to a single person who offers not only every type of regular enhancement, they even have a nifty menu that lets you select the type of enhancement you're looking for.


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't forget that dev-created content is full of fed-exes and hunts in another zone, defeat-alls on large maps, and all sorts of other time-sinks. AE missions avoid time-sinks.

[ QUOTE ]

These are just a few of the examples of how convenient AE is compared to regular content. Why does AE not have ANY downfalls to balance all of its amazing features that dwarf the regular content?

[/ QUOTE ]

It does have downfalls. You level slower, if you are doing missions designed for story and not maximum rewards. There is no mission complete bonus, no arc complete bonus, and patrol xp doesn't get used.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It doesn't. They are all worth the same (for a given rank) at any setting.

[/ QUOTE ]
So there is no incentive to design/run any mission with higher-than-standard mobs ...

[/ QUOTE ]

Some powersets on standard are stupidly easy. Especially on a higher-level arc, adding some powers by hand makes the custom critters' challenge level more in-line with the standard enemies.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There is really no reason why the generic heroes and villains shouldn't be included.

[/ QUOTE ]

And yet we're allowed to have Hami Mitos. WTF.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've seen one used in an arc. One. Out of hundreds of arcs I've played. I've also thought of a use for them for an arc I may or may not ever finish, where they are captives.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just like Malta, Knives of Artemis, Bane Spiders, Nemesis soldiers, Chimera's ninjas, Battlemaiden's goons...shall I go on? End-game enemies with no powers aren't unique to the ITF.


[/ QUOTE ]

Malta has tech, they just don't look like it. Post 45 they should be mostly Titans and powered armoured troops, not blue cowboys.

The Knives have tech too. They should really be sporting energy blades/bolts and have some high tech equivalent to caltrops.

Nemesis has tech. It just looks like it's old fashioned. He should be using more Automatons and less foot soldiers post 45.
.

[/ QUOTE ]

Regardless of what they "should" be using, Malta and the Knives of Artemis use highly-trained operatives with mostly the same "tech" my blaster had at level 4. Malta have a few extra gadgets specifically designed to neutralize heroes, and big robots 'cause they're cool. Knives have...mad ninja-chick skills and fancy goggles.

And how do you know the Nemesis foot soldiers aren't more advanced automatons, and he just wants you to think they're not as part of some plot? Huh? Huh?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And I meant REMOVED FROM YOUR COSTUME, I would think that would be obvious.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm having trouble picturing how they could datamine 5 costumes each on eleventy-million player characters... but ok.



[/ QUOTE ]

So you've never had a patch mess up your costumes before? Lucky you, I guess.

[ QUOTE ]
I heartily agree with MOO's suggestions. It's 'cool' to do AE content, but not at the expense of learning how expansive the DEVELOPER content is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Been there. Done every arc in the game except Mako's, and I'm working on it. So have most of the vets rolling new alts.

[ QUOTE ]

Yes, I know, we outstripped their 5 years worth of work in 2 weeks, BUT... is it all content we feel is worth bragging about, honestly? It's what's known as Infinite Monkey Theorem - at some point, they'll write Shakespeare by random chance. The corollary is, you don't want to read everything ELSE they wrote.


[/ QUOTE ]

The "quit arc" button is always there. That's the beauty of AE...if you're in an arc you don't like, you can quit, turn around, and start a new one. Whereas if you're in a dev arc you don't like...you have to get yourself a new contact, do tons of running and boring hunts and fed-exes to get to that contact's arc, and still be locked in the arc you didn't like until you finish it.

[ QUOTE ]

We all may be tired of the dev content... but the new players have never seen it. They haven't seen the NPC text that War Witch has worked on, or the zone designs, or ... well you get the point.

[/ QUOTE ]

You guys are all making it sound like the big bad high-level people are FORCING new players to spend all their time in the AE. The kind of players who want fast xp...they're usually not the same people who enjoy removing all the fog-of-war from every zone, or giggle at NPC dialogue, or read the story arcs. Even if those immersion- and exploration-oriented people initially get sucked into AE teams, nothing is keeping them there, and I have met several players who tried AE for a while and refuse to go back.

Oh and by the way, every time I go to Kings Row or Port Oakes I see people in broadcast both looking for and forming teams to run dev-created content.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I wish they would increase the minimums a bit..I made some cool costumes that way and it sucks that I can't change them now that I want to.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well as someone who plays on an older computer, I'm glad the devs don't agree with you. Sorry, you took advantage of a bug; not with malicious intent, and not to gain an unfair advantage, but it was a bug nonetheless. So just be glad that the invalid costume pieces weren't simply removed.

[/ QUOTE ]

... Remove "invalid" costume pieces that people PAID for?! Katie Hannon, bar the door! Imagine the screaming. [I would be one of the ones screaming, too].

[/ QUOTE ]

Nowhere in the Magic Pack description did it say "this modified trenchcoat can be used with wings." And I meant REMOVED FROM YOUR COSTUME, I would think that would be obvious.

[ QUOTE ]

I don't know, I question how horrible this "bug" is when nowadays we have rikti drones exploding ten times and creating a metric crapton of debris all over the landscape, and no one is doing anything about that...that seems way crashier than someone wearing a trench with wings, but what do I know.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, and they fixed it on test. Probably will be fixed on live in the next patch.

[ QUOTE ]
Wow. You just encapsulated all of the reasons why the ITF is my least favorite task/strike force. (Although that being said, I haven't tried the Shard ones.)

1) Wide Range: Which means that just like regular missions and just like saucer raids, you get level 35s who feel entitled to have half the team be level 50s, because they feel entitled to be sidekicked. So recruiting for one, once you get the four level 35-45s, grinds to halt as you try to recruit more 50s.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then start your own and don't invite anyone under 45. Or, if you have so many 35s wanting to join, run the thing at 35 and exemp everyone else.

[ QUOTE ]

2) Unique Enemies: Yes, but stupid ones. By level 35, I've gone toe to toe with demons, monsters, and renegade gods capable of threatening all life on earth with a stray thought. Now, I face the ultimate enemy: a primitive barbarian in scraps of leather, with a chunk of metal in each hand. The idea that Cimeroran Traitors are a level 35-50 villain group annoys the heck out of me. Sure, go ahead, invoke the supposed magic that they're using, that isn't referred to anywhere in-game. Go ahead, somehow convince me that Roman legionnaires were all trained to Batman-like levels of physical prowess. Uh, no.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just like Malta, Knives of Artemis, Bane Spiders, Nemesis soldiers, Chimera's ninjas, Battlemaiden's goons...shall I go on? End-game enemies with no powers aren't unique to the ITF.

[ QUOTE ]

4) Few Mezzers: But tons of mobs with AoE heals, and every lieutenant or above is immune to mez. Combine this with ...

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh, get somebody to pay attention? The Surgeons can be killed in two seconds by a blaster who is paying attention. Furthermore they're not immune to mez, I've held the Cimeroran bosses when they were alone, easily. They are only immune to standard herd-and-control tactics.

[ QUOTE ]

5) Melee Centric: Did you know that Arachnos Soldiers are weak to melee? Cimerorans tear my Bane Spider character up, even on lowest difficulty settings. The stacking -def(all) from all those spammed Broadsword attacks makes Cimeroran Traitors just about the only enemies that threaten my bots/FF mastermind, too. Let me guess: you're a tank with a resistance-based primary?

[/ QUOTE ]

So...not only are they strong against fire/kins and fire/psis, they are also strong against otherwise unkillable masterminds and VEATs...come to think of it, I've seen quite a few "farm build" brutes and scrappers dropping dead on the walls of Cimerora. Good job devs.

[ QUOTE ]

6) Enemies that are "just right"? Are you including that one spawn of 8 overlapping elite bosses?

[/ QUOTE ]

A spawn that doesn't drop dead in three seconds, but doesn't include an AV with a bazillion hit points that two-shots your tank and needs 3 rads to take down? Yep, that spawn is just right.

[ QUOTE ]

7) Co-Op: Is over-done. Holiday co-op missions were an interesting change of pace. The RWZ was an interesting idea that has gone on too long, and officially exhausted all of my interest in co-op content. The ITF is, in my opinion, already over the line, and all the more so because in this game, "co-op" seems to always mean "villains get to be heroes."

[/ QUOTE ]

Heroes outnumber villains. The ITF gives villains the opportunity to run a TF without setting it up a week in advance. Although it would be nice to have co-op content where everyone gets to be morally grey...and villains profit.
[ QUOTE ]

Or that cave where every 3rd spawn is a team-wiping Nictus crystal.

[/ QUOTE ]

You would think, that after the first time one of those things blew up in your face, people would learn to keep an eye on it and back off when its health gets low?

[ QUOTE ]

9) Very Little Travel: We villains are spoiled; we take this for granted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Grant Naylor called, he wants tickets to the Johnny Sonata concert.

[ QUOTE ]

And much rather run the LGTF, which has much more interesting enemies than either of the above and uses a much more interesting variety of combat tactics, like the cumulative Four Horsemen fight and the mini-Hamidon raid.

[/ QUOTE ]

You want to talk team wipes, how about that final Horsemen fight huh? Everyone is feared, no one has end, and everyone's recharge is floored. Or how about that mini-Hamidon raid, which I'm convinced was only thrown in to show off the new Hamidon, and gives you an obnoxiously flashy temp power. And let's not forget the fun of waiting around for Infernia to shut up and then searching that obnoxious map for hostages. Oh yeah, and the Honoree...an archvillain who has never been mentioned before (comics don't count), is barely mentioned on the TF, is never mentioned again, and requires a temp power to defeat.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
AE buildings out of Atlas, Galaxy and King's Row, yesterday.

[/ QUOTE ]

This.

[/ QUOTE ]

Removing the AE building from Atlas should do it. People flock to that one because Atlas is already a "gather point," not just because it's a low-level zone. Villains don't use the one in Mercy, they use Cap.

Lowbies do use the AE for actual player-made stories, you know.

You can also use Glacia and Infernia from the LGTF, and I think Lady Aggromagnet from Montague's arc.

There is really no reason why the generic heroes and villains shouldn't be included. Aside from file size considerations, those guys would probably be level-locked (I'd assume, since you get different ones at different levels), which would mean the lower-level ones are probably less insane than customs, and in higher-level arcs you could have a grey-con hero if you need one.

For an organized villain group, yes, "defeat the boss and the PPD will mop up" works. However for the aforementioned homicidal lunatics, anything that could cause a disaster if it got out (fact: a single zombified hero can cause a global zombie pandemic), a "leave no witnesses" scenario...the list goes on.

Lucky for us these things only seem to happen on tiny maps

They aren't. You have to make your own generic villains and use up file space. The generic heroes aren't in there either.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Although I wonder, with the graphic updates coming, if they won't up the specs a bit, or find some way to allow us to combine those costume pieces again.

[/ QUOTE ]Just to curtail anything:
1.) It's only a rumored graphics update
2.) Upping the graphics doesn't really mean the engine will be faster on lower end systems even if they did

[/ QUOTE ]

"Graphics update," to me, means the game is going to look prettier. Which means, guess what, it's going to be even harsher on low-end systems.

Well if an ally or escort has a lengthy rescue animation, they will play through the whole thing before following. That's the only thing I can think of.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Pff. As long as it's a small map it's no big deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone who can't handle a kill all in the Midnight Club map fails at life.

[/ QUOTE ]

But it says "kill all" in the description, so I'm going to have to go and low-rate all your arcs now, since obviously you are a lousy mission creator